The Adventure Begins …

We enjoyed our 90 minute drive to Leighton Buzzard, noticing how some of the leaves are turning already. We stopped briefly at Tiddenfoot Waterside Park to stretch our legs and eat our sandwiches …

… and caught the first glimpse of the Grand Union Canal.

We were at Wyvern Shipping at 1.30 on the dot to collect Daisy, and were quite surprised to see lots of other boats were going out as well.

While Chris brought the car over to load our things, I quickly took some snaps of Daisy.

Simon gave us a full tour inside and out, together with operating details and safety. It seemed a lot to remember. Then we set off with Simon showing Chris how to manoeuvre the boat and me how to work the first lock, Leighton Lock. The locks here are big enough to take two boats, and another of the Wyvern boats had come down the canal behind us so we went through together. Chris might have the most technical task but I seem to have the most active, having to use the windlass to raise and lower paddles and my back to push the gate open and closed. Simon suggested we proceed to the three locks at Soulbury and go those together with the other boat and with all the instructions fresh in our mind, it seemed a good idea. We had thought we might moor short of the locks for the night and do them fresh in the morning, but it is best not to do this set of 3 locks on your own, and we could end up waiting a while for another boat the next day.

Our induction complete, Simon returned to the boatyard and I put the kettle on for a cuppa. The canal meandered through the Ouzel Valley past farmland & woodland and under several bridges …

After around 3 miles, we approached Soulbury and moored up to survey the scene, with the flight of three locks ahead, a road bridge, a historic cottage and pub on the left and the old pumping station on the right.

Even this was easier said than done as drawing the boat in to the bank at the right angle to end up alongside in one go looks like it will take a little practice! I went with the chap from the other boat to look at the lock and figure out what we needed to do and we quickly established we weren’t too confident at all! A couple of other boats had moored up behind us and Jim came forward to rescue the situation. He had also hired his boat from Wyvern, but had done this before and got us organised as to who should do what when and I even managed to take a few pictures along the way …

Relieved that we had survived the three lock ordeal, we looked for a safe spot to moor for the night as it had started to spit with rain and ended up stopping quite soon,just short of Bridge 106 and a total of 4 miles, 11⁄4 furlongs from Wyvern. After a little backwards and forwards, the hefty hammering in of stakes and tightening of ropes, we were securely moored and we scuttled in to the dry.

We did a bit of unpacking, made more tea and put the oven on for dinner then tucked in to pies and veg and a bottle of red wine in our cosy cabin. Any worries we had that it would be chilly were unfounded as the heating is very efficient. After all the excitement, we had an early night and could hearing the rain falling on the roof of the boat as we fell asleep.

Maps